NotHarry apologises that the introduction of an upgrade to extra member services is not going exactly according to plan and you may find some slightly strange things happening while we explore different options to get the best possible user friendly solution! I believe in testing on the fully live site, with myself and a few helpful people reporting back the errors, as that is the real world. This phase of the site development is a learning curve and I am a perfectionist, so some frustration will be experienced all round! Sorry!
Research or a promotion?
“3 top rated trusts trading on a double digit discount” is the lead headline on the Morningstar email page that was emailed to me (as a retail investor) yesterday. The follow on teaser text suggests that this could be because UK funds are “oversold” and therefore cheap.
However, reading the actual content, which is confined to a rather shallow commentary on 3 Smaller Companies investment trusts, one reads that the double digit discounts are less than the 10 year averages, which themselves are drawn from a relatively benign long term “bull’ market. So no extra value there!
Playing the discount to premium game (and of course vice versa!) is an aspect of owning investment trusts, but one that adds extra risk.
Morningstar is a good business with highly qualified academics in its research units so it is a pity that it seems to be turning into a touting vehicle for the fund managers that pay to get listed with it – a sort of quid pro, I guess.
In my opinion, if a research organisation lives on the fees it gets from the people it researches, you can’t expect it to give you independent advice. In this case, you obviously can’t rely on it to apply logic either!
Reading List – a bonus service!
I am an avid reader and have 3 or 4 books on the go at all times. Almost all my reading informs my investment decisions because I read about people (both real and fictional) and it is human behaviour above all else that influences every sort of investment market (even in these days of algorithmic trading, because that itself introduces a human reaction).
From time to time I come across a book that is not obviously about investment markets, but adds understanding to what is happening in the world.
Recently, a colleague introduced me to the book Sapiens and its sequel Home Deus by Yuval Noah Harari. Together these are a compact history of the world and a look at the future in terms of the broad aspects of human behaviour. To simplify one main point: the author suggests we live in the data age and the gods are now the data owners. What he wrote a couple of years back is currently being evidenced by the Cambridge Analytica revelations.
If you like your books ‘meaty’ and thought provoking, I thoroughly recommend this pair.
I will return to the topic of learning economics and psychology from novels in later posts!
Watching Brief – just updated (m)
This is a part of the site that comprises selected news about funds, highlights that are the sort of information the investment committee of an IFA form or a retail fund researcher would have on their radar
Site Progress Update (m)
Member Blog Posts Now Highlighted with (m)
The more analytical posts for more experienced investors are now marked with (m) after the title to assist in navigation and will also be assigned to a Member category in future.